Fried protein, which frequently takes the form of fried chicken pieces or fried fish pieces, is a popular food. Consequently, restaurants, especially fast food and fast casual restaurants, provide such fried protein dishes on a large volume basis. Preparation of such fried protein dishes in restaurants requires that the food preparer at the restaurant handle raw protein pieces to coat the protein pieces in a batter, bread the batter-coated protein pieces, and then fry the protein pieces both to cook them and to harden the batter coating, typically to a firm or crispy crust. Many processes for frying protein pieces require the protein pieces to be coated, by dredging or immersion, with liquid batter that may include raw egg and/or other ingredients that may spoil at room temperature, or if kept too long in a refrigerated state, which may constitute a source of hygiene problems for the restaurant. In addition, coating uncooked protein pieces prior to frying creates a risk of the protein spoiling if allowed to remain at room temperature too long, or if refrigerated for too long.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system and process for preparing fried protein dishes in a manner that minimizes the chance of contamination from using batter that inadvertently may have spoiled. There is also a need for a process and system for preparing fried protein dishes that can be performed by relatively unskilled preparers, and which eliminates the need for a food preparer to handle raw, uncooked protein pieces when coating the protein pieces and when frying them. Further, there is a need for a system and process for preparing fried protein dishes that allows broad culinary options to be employed in the final preparation step.